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m ^ W% cW «,*«». WASHINGTON, D. C., 

Wednesday , September 15, 

Present: Hod. Thomas C. Fletcher, chairman ; Hon. Timothy 
O. Howe, Hon. B. W. Harris, Hon. Charles J. Faulkner, and Pro¬ 
fessor George W. Atherton. 


The Chairman. (To the Commissioner of Indian Affair a ) Mr. 
missiouer, we invited yon to meet with us this morning in order tin 
might make such statements with reference to the charges conta 
the pamphlet of Professor Marsh as you may see proper to make, 

- e then propose to ask Dr. Bevier about such matters as Professor 
Marsh wishes to inquire of him. We may desire to recall you for the 
l irpose of asking you some questions if we find that those we had 
designed asking are not covered by the statement you will make to ns 
this morning. 


Hon. E. P. Smith, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, then read t 


low 


ot «*<*> 


U. S. A. 


ing statement in reply to Professor Marsh’s charges: 

Yu ^ 

STATEMENT OF HON. E. P. SMIT H 

Sometime about the 20th of April last, Professor Marsh came to*®y of¬ 
fice bringing packages of coffee, sugar, tobacco, and flour, which he said 
he had brought from Bed Cloud agency. He explained that he was now 
fulfilling a promise which he had made to Bed Cloud. That .jile at the 
Bed Cloud agency, in October or November previous, he had found 
difficulty in getting permission of the Indians to go past the agency, in 
to their country in search of fossils; and as an hducement to Bed 
Cloud to procure this permission for him, he had offered to bring any 
complaints which that chief should desire to make concerning his agent, 
to the President; and that, in pursuance of this agreement between him 
and Bed Cloud, that Indian had made many grievous charges against 
his agent and his administration of affairs. And had also given him 
these packages of supplies as genuine samples of the food which his 
agent was giving him. In answer to my inquiries, he said that he had 
not in any way tested these samples by comparison with supplies which 
were then being issued by the agent, and that he did not put great con¬ 
fidence in Bed Cloud’s statement. Mr. Marsh also spoke of the confu¬ 
sion which he witnessed at the agency, of the agent’s want of courage 
and coolness at the time of a threatened outbreak, and of his la c of 
system in issuing annuity-goods, clearly indicating, as Mr. Marsh 
thought, an incompetency on the part of the agent for his responsible 
position, admitting at the same time that the position was one involv 
ing responsibility equal to that of the governorship of the State of Con¬ 
necticut. On this point we agreed in our views. 

He made no charges of fraudulent transactions on the part of Agent 
Saville, except in the name of Bed Cloud, saying that Bed Cloud claimed 
and repeatedly declared that his agent was cheating him. 

The interview, so far as I was concerned, was a pleasant one, and, 


1 s 




Professor Marsli stated,'to me, had been brought about because some time 
previous, when giving him a letter of credit to lied Cloud and the officers 
of the Bureau in his country, I had requested him if he should ob¬ 
serve anything deserving my attention that needed to be corrected, to 
make a note of it for my information. 

The next morning an account of this interview between Professor 
Marsh and myself appeared in a New York paper, giving an incorrect and 
entirely unfair version ; which was made the text of very severe and un¬ 
just criticism of the Interior Department, and especially of my own offi¬ 
cial action, using Professor Marsh’s well-known name and position to give 
force and circulation to the statement. In all these attacks of the press 
great emphasis was laid upon the quality of supplies which, according to 
lied Cloud’s samples, had been furnished the Indians. The Indian’s 
samples and his sto^ of having been wronged were rarely mentioned 
except in connection with the name and character of the distinguished 
professor, who had volunteered to take them to the President in person, 
and who, by so doing, became in the minds of all who read the accounts 
the endorser of both the samples and the story, neither of which were true. 
The newspaper version was so far from being true, and the criticism and 
charges founded upon it so unjust that I was sure Professor Marsh would 
be mortified by the false attitude in which he had been placed toward 
myself, and I confidently expected as a matter of courtesy and honor that 
he at once would correct them, especially in view of the fact that all the 
information given to the press on this subject had come exclusively from 
himself, and that he was known to be in intimate relation with the paper 
in which it appeared. Mr. Marsh did not make any such corrections. On 
the contrary, he allowed the continued misrepresentations, based upon 
■in incorrect version of the matter, and especially based upon the sam¬ 
ples he had brought, to receive a very wide circulation of the press 
without any denial from himself. When a man has wronged another 
unintentionally or otherwise, two courses are open to him : to make 
reparation, or to endeavor to justify his action. Professor Marsh has 
seen fit to adopt the latter course. 

A few days after Professor Marsh was invited before the Board of 
1 udian Commissioners, to whom he gave a much more extended account 
of his Red Cloud observations and inferences; upon which statement the 
board immediately took action by appointing a committee of their own 
number to investigate and report the facts. 

This committee, not being ready to proceed at once to the investiga¬ 
tion, the Secretary of the Interior requested the chairman of the Board 
of Indian Commissioners to name suitable persons to form a commission 
to take the whole matter into inquiry, and report. Much time was con¬ 
sumed in the composition of this commission, owing to the inability of 
persons invited to serve. 

4mong those who thus declined were Hon. H. A. Bullock, of Massa¬ 
chusetts ; G. W. Lane, of the Board of Trade of New York ; Senator 
Stevenson, of Kentucky; Senator Washburn, of Massachusetts; Pro¬ 
cessor Seely, of Amherst College. 

While this commission was being procured Mr. Marsh was in Wash¬ 
ington frequently, and was present at a council held with Red Cloud 
and his delegates for the special purpose of hearing the complaints he 
had to make respecting his supplies and his agent. The opportunity 
given that chief and his band to state their grievances was most ample, 
e record of this council will show that Red Cloud’s grievances, as pre¬ 
ted in person, were not serious, and that no complaint was made by 
i against his agent until drawn out from him by the inquiry of Mr. 



3 


X 


Marsh, whether he u was perfectly satisfied with his agent.” At one of 
the frequent interviews held with Mr. Marsh about this time, I called 
his attention to the injustice which he had done Agent Saville in con¬ 
senting to be the bearer of Eed Cloud’s complaints witnout having in¬ 
formed himself by personal inspection as to the character of the sup¬ 
plies at the agency whether the articles Eed Cloud had given him were 
actually samples of the supplies delivered. Professor Marsh replied that 
I must recollect Eed Cloud’s position; that he was the acknowledged 
head of that people, in a similar relation to the Sioux that President 
Grant holds to the people of the United States, and that it would have 
hardly been in accordance with Eed Cloud’s notion of etiquette or 
propriety for him, the Professor, to seein in any way to question his 
word or fairness. 

Eelative to the allegations of inferior supplies furnished Eed Cloud 
agency, I have only to say that the purchases were made on contracts 
entered into in pursuance of bids offered, and publicly read in New 
York on the second day of July, 1874. The sugar was furnished by E. 
C. Knight & Co., of Philadelphia; the coffee by B. G. Arnold & Co., of 
New York ; the tobacco by Dohan, Carroll & Co., of New York ; the 
flour by J. H. Martin, of Denver, Colorado. The award of these 
contracts to these parties was made in accordance with the advice of 
the board of Indian commissioners, who had before them all the bids, and 
upon the judgment of the inspector of the samples as to which offered 
the best value, and therefore constituted the best bids in each case for 
the Government to accept. 

The inspector for flour was E. E. Livermore, of the Flour Exchange of 
New York City, who was recommended by the president of the exchange. 
His ability and integrity will not be questioned by flour-dealers in New 
York. The tobacco-contract was entered into after three inspections, 
resulting in the award being given to the parties to whom the second 
inspector, W. A. Eobinson, had made it; the award of coffee was 
given on the inspection and recommendation of Thomas J. Barr; the 
sugar, on the inspection and recommendation of C. B. Kneval; the 
blankets were purchased on the inspection and judgment of C. B. Wil¬ 
cox, all of New York City. 

In making their award upon the bids and samples, these inspectors, I 
fully believe, were governed entirely by their own judgment in the case, 
and in each case their judgment was accepted and acted upon. When 
the contractors came to deliver the coffee, sugar, tobacco, and blankets, 
the question whether the articies were according to contract as to quan¬ 
tity and quality was left entirely to the decision of these inspectors. 
They inspected the goods and savv them shipped, and there can be no 
reasonable doubt that the articles actually purchased were delivered to 
the transportation companies in New York for shipment to this agency. 
These supplies are traced distinctly through Omaha aud Cheyenne, and 
the agents receipt is returned for them. Samples of these supplies 
have been furnished the commission, with the statements of the several 
inspectors above named. These supplies are in my judgment fully equal 
in grade to those in use by the great majority of laboring people in this 
country, and are of a quality which ought to be satisfactory to the In¬ 
dians. I believe the interests of true economy would not allow the pur¬ 
chase of a better grade of articles. 

The sample of flour on which the contract was let, by the advice of 
Mr. Livermore, was sent to the flour inspector for Eed cloud Agency, at 
Cheyenne, Maj. A. K. Long, of the U. S. Army. When the flour came 
to be delivered, I found from the complaints of the contractor that Maj. 


4 


Long’s inspection was close and rigid. With this I was pleased, and so 
informed him by telegraph. 

The blankets were purchased of John Dobson, of Philadelphia. They 
were the well-known standard Mackinaw blanket, of superior quality, 
heavy, warm, and serviceable; a much better blanket than the soldiers 
of the Army use, and a far better blanket, both for wear and bed-cover¬ 
ing, than the great majority of the American people are able to have for 
themselves or their families. They were all stamped indelibly U. S. I. D., 
so that there is no room even for a suspicion that the blankets bearing 
this stamp, which Mr. Marsh saw upon the Indians’, were not the iden¬ 
tical heavy, soft, warm Mackinaw blankets purchased for them in Phil¬ 
adelphia. lied Cloud asked Professor Marsh to tell his Great Father 
that the blankets sent to him were not fit for horse-blankets; Professor 
Marsh delivered the message to the President, and did not inform him 
that it was not true.. tWnrTfTPMUrmkfUft infliiiifaaJ-im»d by rkU wf ii rr uu ' rt ii«fc . 
<ka-. bl)' w lrttts. <1 oli noro d -t<* J-ke Indian blankets were required 

to be marked, for the first time under that year’s contract, and through 
the inexperience of the manufacturer in marking, a few of the blue 
blankets were injured by the stamping process; some of them to the ex¬ 
tent of destroying the fabric, and thus making a hole in the blanket the 
size of the four letters. This is not true of any except the bine blankets, 
which were only one-eighth of the whole quantity furnished to that 
agency, and it is true only of a portion of this one-eighth. How great 
that portion is, I have not the information to state, but L do uot believe 
it to have beeu large. 

The above facts will show, I confidently believe, that the office took 
all reasonable and necessary means to protect the Government from im¬ 
position and fraud, and to secure the delivery of the proper articles for 
the use of the Indians. 

At one of the interviews with Mr. Marsh he informed me that the 
Secretary of the Interior had requested him to make, for his use, a written 
statement of what he had seen and believed to be wrong at lied 
Cloud agency. I urged him to do so. He replied that he told the 
Secretary that if he desired such a statement, he should make the 
request to him in writing, which the Secretary had not done, and he 
would consider the matter whether he would furnish the statement or not. 
General Eaton, Commissioner of Education, was present at the interview 
and united with me in urging upon Professor Marsh to make such state¬ 
ment, in order that the Department might have the facts for a thorough 
investigation into all the complaints alleged. We were not able to obtain 
the consent of Professor Marsh to this request, yet he did uot positively 
refuse it. I assured him over and over again that we were anxious to 
know what was the true state of things, and desired any information he 
could give us on the subject, and explained that it ought to be in 
writing, with reference to such sources of evidence as he could give us. 

Mr. Marsh declined to furnish a written statement of frauds of which 
he had become aware, to myself. In answer to my request for such a 
statement, he replied he would give it to the commission appointed to 
investigate the matter. Pending the appointment of that commission, 
he sent the statement which I had requested to the President, publish¬ 
ing it at the same time in the newspapers. I am not aware of any 
reason assigned by him for such publication—a course unusual and in 
no way assisting either the President, Department, or the commission in 
searching for the alleged frauds. 

Mr. Marsh assigns as his reasons for declining to give the statement 
to the Secretary of the Interior or to myself, that he had reason to 





suspect the Department was interested in covering up rather than in 
discovering frauds, and that he had lost confidence in my integrity of 
purpose. To sustain this grave charge, which Mr. Marsh has taken the 
responsibility to scatter through the press and in his own publications 
copiously distributed through the mail, to all parts of this country, and 
even in Europe, no specific allegations are made. There are, however, 
three charges of fraud and wrong which he endeavors to fasten upon the 
Indian Office. 

First , a disposition to shield contractors by false statements. For proof of 
this Mr. Marsh offers two dispatches, taken from the newspapers, as my 
statements. The first is as follows : 

Commissioner Smith, of the Indian Bureau, says, in regard to the letter of General 
Bradley, published yesterday, that the cattle spoken of belong to the contractor; that they 
were sick, some of them with broken limbs, and that they were not issued to the Indians, 
44Ull was no intention of issuing them, simply because-they were in such a poor 

and sickly condition. Tt asserts that Red'TDog’s statement was incorrect, aud^ that Red 
Cloud intormed him this morning that Red Dbg lied* when lie told the Story to GerieraT 
Bradley and Professor Marsh. The Commissioner also states that General Bradley could 
have satisfied himself of this fact by a slight inquiry of the herdsmen or contractor, if he 
had desired to do so. 

The second press dispatch on which I am convicted of falsehood and 
fraudulent intent is this: 

It is stated at the Indian Bureau, with reference to the complaints concerning supplies fur¬ 
nished to the Indians at the Red Cloud agency, that all the flour sent there was inspected 
at Cheyenne, by Major Long, commissary of subsistence of the United States Army, and 
passed by him as equal to the accepted samples. It is therefore claimed that the samples of 
inferior flour brought here by Prof. Marsh, at the request of Red Cloud, were of some old 
issue, or, like the specimens of sugar and tobacco, have been damaged by exposure to the 
weather while in the Indians’ possession. 

In the first quotation from newspapers given above Mr. Marsh at¬ 
tempts to prove that I am false by lied Cloud’s statement that he (Red 
Cloud) never said to me what is above alledged ; and, secondly, by the 
statements of the half-breeds and squaw-men, that they did not inter¬ 
pret any such thing for Red Cloud, and therefore he could not have 
said it. If Mr. Marsh had made a slight inquiry respecting the dis¬ 
patch, he could have saved himself the trouble of calling upon his Da¬ 
kota witnesses. I never exchanged a word with Red Cloud on the sub¬ 
ject. The reporter misunderstood me when he says that I told him that 
Red Cloud informed me. I said to the reporter that I had been informed 
that Red Cloud had so stated; and this fact entirely disposes of the 
4 *four falsehoods” and of the question of veracity raised by Professor 
Marsh between Red Cloud and myself. 

Of the second dispatch, which Mr. Marsh thinks a sufficient ground 
to accuse me of fraud, I never had any knowledge whatever, until I saw 
it in his statement. The information purports to have been procured 
from the Indian Office on the 3d day of May. At that time I was not 
within two hundred miles of the Office, and had not been for a week 
previous, nor had I communicated with any one at the Office on the 
subject. 

The second charge of Mr. Marsh implicating myself is that 1 had 
already been made acquainted with the wrongs at Red Cloud agency , 
and had taken no measures to prevent them. This I deny, and assert, 
on the contrary, that all previous reports of irregularities or wrongs 
said to exist at that agency, and all statements respecting the integrity 
of the administration of Red Cloud affairs, have received timely, full, 
and proper consideration by the Indian Office during my administra¬ 
tion. 

The first serious complaints made against agent Saville reached the 


.6 


office in connection with the visit of Samuel Walker to the agency. 
The complaints were immediately made the subject of investigation 
by order of the Secretary of the Interior. 

Bishop Hare, Bev. S. D. Hinman, inspector Bevier* and Hon. F. H. 
Smith, member of the Board of Indian Commissioners, were sent at once 
to inquire into the alleged wrongs. They made extended investigations. 
Bishop Hare and Mr. Hinman, as officers of the Episcopal church, had a 
peculiar interest in finding the truth. The report of this commission 
completely exonorated the agent from all complicity with frauds, and 
commended him for his satisfactory administration, in view of the many 
difficulties and embarrassments under which it was carried on. 

On this report I acted, and gave the agent my confidence and hearty 
co-operation, notwithstanding the report of Samuel Walker, which 
Bishop Hare characterizes as contemptible. If I had been capable of 
doing otherwise I should have despised myself. J. D. Bevier, United 
States Indian Inspector visited this agency again the following Septem¬ 
ber. His report of that inspection did not in any way reverse or recall 
the previous report which he had made respecting the findings of Samuel 
Walker. It related principally to subsequent transactions of the agent 
which he pronounced wrong and indicative of fraud. Inquiry showed, as I 
thought,that theinspector was mistaken in some quite important facts upon 
which he had based his statements, and agent Saville’s explanation of his 
transactions which were the most seriously questioned, supported by tes¬ 
timony of other parties, seemed to me to be reasonable. I was also 
aware that just about this time and since his former report commending 
the agent, Mr. Bevier had had a personal grievance against agent Sa- 
ville upon a matter not at all connected with his duties as inspector, and 
that it had led to quite unpleasant feelings towards the agent. This I 
supposed might account to some extent for the severe report w hich he 
now made. In frequent subsequent personal interviews on matters re¬ 
lating to his inspection tour, Mr. Bevier did not in any way of which I 
have any recollection, allude to the fact that he had changed his esti¬ 
mate of Saville. For these reasons the second report of the inspector 
while it gave me uneasiness and apprehension did not operate to destroy 
the confidence in the agent which his previous report and that of the 
other members of Bishop Hare’s commission had inspired. 

The third instance of fraud , or connivance with fraud , which Mr. 
Marsh charges is in connection with the transportation service rendered by 
JD. J. McCann , under contract with the Indian Bureau. Mr. Marsh 
charges that by over-estimating the distance, the Government has 
been defrauded, with the knowledge of the Indian Office, to the amount 
of $15,000. The facts are that the Government has not been, and can 
not be, defrauded one dollar on this transportation service; but by the 
care and caution of the Office, the Government is protected, and has 
been, from all fraud and loss, whatever may be the actual distance be¬ 
tween Bed Cloud and Cheyenne. 

The facts relative to this matter are these: McCann and others bid 
for the transportation to the Bed Cloud agency over a route which 
had been established at so much per pound per hundred miles. The 
distance had been already fixed in previous contracts, and it would 
naturally be supposed that bids of all parties would be based upon 
the distance recognized by the Department and by freighters at the 
time of the bidding. When the question arose as to the actual distance, 
and the transpprtation accounts were held up, pending the decision 
McCann addressed the following letter to the Secretary of the Interior: 



7 


Washington, D. 0., December 3, 1873. 

Sir ; I have the honor to propose in the matter of difference as to the distance from 
Cheyenne to the Red Clould Indian agency, that my accounts be allowed in accordance 
with the terms of the contract as to price and distance during the winter months, and that 
a sum sufficient to cover the cost of transportation for any distance less than that stipulated 
in the contract, which may be fouud to exist, may be withheld during the months of April, 
May, and June, 1874, till the question shall be determined. 

The object in making this proposition is to secure the means for the prosecution of the 
work during the winter, while transportation is scarce and labor high. I respectfully inclose 
herewith a telegram received this day from the shipping-agent at Cheyenne, showing the 
demand for transportation and the need of funds. 

Very respectfully your obedient servant, 

D. J. McCANN. 

To the honorable Secretary of the Interior. 

McCann’s transportation service in May of 1874 amounted to 
$6,323.66. His service in June amounted to $8,905,31. Amount withheld 
tor the two mouths, $14,328.97. This sum was not paid to McCann until 
after he had entered into contract and giveu bonds in the sum of $40,000, 
for its fulfillment, for transportation service in 1875. 

There was no time in that year when the Government was not fully 
protected by this contract, and service rendered under it, against any 
loss that might be found to have occurred by over-estimated distance. 

At the end of the year 1874-75, the office was indebted to McCann 
on account of transportation for May and June, $14,568.12. This was 
withheld until the 5th of August last, and until after McCann had 
entered into contracts involving $100,000 expenditure, under bonds in 
the penal sum of $51,000. Thus it will be seen that there has never been 
an hour from the time the question of distance was raised when the 
Government has not been able to compel McCann to make full and fair 
settlements on the actual distance between Cheyenne and Red Cloud 
agencies. At this time McCann is under contract to render service 
which will amount, at a low estimate, to $95,000, a considerable portion 
of w hich service has already been rendered and is yet unpaid. 

Office correspondence, w hich has been submitted to you, shows that 
the Indian Office took steps to procure a measurement of the distance, 
and that the route has been measured twice and the distance found to 
be 226 miles instead of 212 miles, the distance claimed by McCann. 
This result not being satisfactory to myself or to Agent Saville, I asked, 
under date of November 20, 1874, that the Secretary of War be re¬ 
quested to measure it by an officer of the Army. In accordance with 
this request an attempt to make the measurement was made by Second 
Lieutenant I. H. Winter, on the 31st day of December, 1874, which was 
unsuccessful on account of a severe storm. Subsequent to that time 
and during the spring and early summer months, it has not been prac¬ 
ticable to measure the distance on account of the high water in the 
Platte, which prevented the passing of the river by the surveying expe¬ 
dition at the point w here the transportation-route crosses. A request 
has recently been made of the War Department to complete this meas¬ 
urement at an early day. When it is done McCann’s accounts will be 
adjusted on the basis agreed upon. 

In conclusion of this portion of my statement, I desire to add that 
Professor Marsh is entirely wrong wffien he imputes to me any unworthy 
motives for the part which I have taken in relation to his complaints 
respecting Indian affairs. As I have stated, our first interview was to 
me in no way an unpleasant one, and I was not, at the time, aware that 
I had made any unfavorable impression upon himself. I did controvert 
his claim, as the representative of Red Cloud, that that Indian was be¬ 
ing abused. His statements and complaints were so much after the old 


8 


stereotyped form, with which I had become familiar, and which every 
new man seems to learn by heart the first day out of Cheyenne, that I 
did not attach much value to them, and it is not unlikely that 1 showed 
the feelings which would be natural when I thought Professor Marsh 
had volunteered to be the bearer of complaints which w T ere not well 
founded, and when I more than half suspected that the Indian had 
gotten the better of the Professor. 

In a subsequent interview, after public attention had been widely 
called to his charges, Mr. Marsh told me that he came at that first inter¬ 
view simply to fulfill his part of a bargain with Red Cloud; that he was 
not a philanthropist nor a reformer; that that was not his line of busi¬ 
ness; that he was fully occupied in scientific pursuits, which left him no 
time or inclination to meddle with the Indian question, though he did 
not believe in the present Indian policy; but that having been crowded 
into this question he must go through. His reputation for good sense 
was at stake, and he would show that he was right. 

The fact that Mr. Marsh, at no greater distance than New Haven, 
kept these dreadful tales of wrong and suffering, intrusted to him by 
the Sioux chief for safe conveyance to his Great Father, during all the 
biting cold of an unusually severe winter, from November to the last of 
April, without in any way endeavoring to call the attention of those who 
he must have supposed could right these wrongs, tends to show that he 
did not himself attach very much importance to disclosures made at Red 
Cloud, for it should be kept in mind in this connection that, according to his 
own statement, Professor Marsh, up to this interview in April, had entire 
confidence in myself as a true, determined friend of the Indians; and 
yet, during those six months, when the suffering from cold and hunger 
at the Red Cloud agency was greatly intensified, he did not so much as 
communicate with me by letter on this subject, nor in any way did he 
attend to Red Cloud’s message until other business connected with his 
profession brought him to Washington in April, when, as he told me, he 
u incidentally ” proceeded to fulfill his pledge to that Indian. 

I am not aware of any expression, by word or otherwise, on my part, 
from which Professor Marsh was entitled to infer that I desired to pre¬ 
vent publicity or exposure of fraud in the Indian service. I did call his 
attention frequently, and, in what he may have regarded as severe lan¬ 
guage, to the fact that he was allowing the press, hostile to the Indian 
Bureau and to the Administration, to use his name in connection with 
statements, which were not true, and especially to parade the samples 
which he had taken from Red Cloud’s hands as evidence of great fraud 
and corruption at that agency and in the Indian Office v when he had not 
at any time tested the fairness of those samples, though he had ample 
opportunity so to do while at the agency. I charged him with want of 
courteous and honorable treatment to me and the Department in allow¬ 
ing such public statements on his authority ; without what I considered 
the slightest proof having been offered to me or any one else to sustain 
them, and when he himself did uot claim to know from personal obser¬ 
vation that the statements made in connection with his name, and his 
visit to Red Cloud and his bringing the samples to the Indian Office 
were true. 

In making up their findings upon Professor Marsh's charges I ask 
the Commission to weigh well the suspicion and distrust which they 
have cast upon the Department of the Interior, the shock and 
horror which they have given to the minds of many of the best 
citizens of the country, and the destructive blow which they have 
struck at public confidence in the possibility of Indian civilization or 


9 


honest government. May I not also claim the personal right to ask your 
consideration of my own case, in relation to his statements. I have had 
but one desire or ambition as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and that 
is to do something to lift 275,000 people out of a barbarous and semi-bar¬ 
barous condition into Christian civilization and American citizenship. 
It was for this purpose alone, at a sacrifice of personal comfort and incli¬ 
nation, that I accepted and have consented to try to fill the very difficult, 
embarrassing, often discouraging, and always thankless office of Commis¬ 
sioner of Indian Affairs. I know that I despise wrong and meanness, 
and that in my estimation there is nothing meaner than to defraud an 
ignorant, helpless, barbarian ; and that no inducement could be offered 
to make me desire to shield from exposure and punishment any man 
guilty of such a crime. Up to the present time I have enjoyed the repu¬ 
tation among a large circle of acquaintances of being an honest man; 
that reputation is all that I have which is of any value to me. Professor 
Marsh has, in fact, though probably without intention, done all that a 
man in his high position could do to destroy my name and take from me 
that which I prize above all earthly things, the good opinion of good 
men. He has done this by sweeping assertions, which have been made 
without any proper inquiry as to the facts, and which by free expendi¬ 
ture of money and use of the press have been scattered over the wide 
world. 

I ask you to find the/uc/s in this case, nothing more. If they condemn 
me, if they throw a shadow of suspicion upon me, by all means declare 
it, and give the declaration full emphasis. If on the other hand the 
author of these charges is mistaken and has made the venture of this 
assault without proper inquiry, then that fact requires to be so stated 
that the wide spread suspicion and distrust which have been created 
by the action of Professor Marsh, respecting the honest, hearty, effective, 
and hopeful effort for the elevation of the Indians, which the President 
and his officers and agents, with the cordial co-operation of the religious 
people of the country, are now making, may be remedied as far as pos¬ 
sible. 

Frequent reference has been made to the fact that the Secretary of 
the Interior in some cases overruled the action of the old Board of 
Indian commissioners where that Board had disapproved vouchers, and 
that such overruling was “illegal,” “irregular,” or “fraudulent.” 

Upon this point I invite your attention to the following provision of 
law defining the powers of the board and of the Secretary in regard to 
vouchers for Indian supplies, (Stat. at Large, vol. 16, p. 568:) 

That hereafter no payments shall be made by any officer of the United States to con¬ 
tractors for goods or supplies of any sort furnished to the Indians, or for the transportation 
thereon, or for any buildings or machinery erected or placed on their reservations, uuder or 
by virtue of any contract entered into with the Interior Department, or any branch thereof, 
on the receipts or certificates of the Indian agents or superintendents for such supplies, 
goods, transportation, buildings, or machinery, beyond 50 per cent, of the amount due until 
the accounts and vouchers shall have been submitted to the executive committee of the board 
of commissioners appointed by the President of the United States, and organized under the 
provisions of the fourth section of the act of April tenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, 
and the third section of the act approved April [July] fifteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy, 
for examination, revisal, and approval; and it shall be the duty of said board of commis¬ 
sioners, without unnecessary delay, to forward said accounts and vouchers so submitted to 
them to the Secretary of the Interior, with the reasons for their approval or disapproval of 
the same, in whole or in part, attached thereto ; and said Secritary shall have power to sus¬ 
tain, set aside, or modify the action of said board, and cause payment to be made or with¬ 
held as he may determine. 

Here is an express provision of law for such action by the Secretary 
in his discretion. It cannot therefore be illegal, irregular, or fraudulent. 

2S 


10 


Dr. Nathan Bishop, a member of the executive committee of that board 
which passed upon the Indian accounts, gives, in his testimony before 
the standing Committee of Indian Affairs, House of Representatives, of 
the 43d Congress, his views of this power and duty of the Secretary 
of the Interior over vouchers, after they had passed the inspection of 
the board, which is officially reported as follows: , 

By Mr. Harris : 

Q. In all this matter do you treat or speak of anything as irregular which is not in viola 
tion of law ? 

A. I don’t think I should. 

Q. Would you say that anything was irregular or improper which it was in the power of 
the Indian Department to do without your consent ? 

A. I should not. 

Q. Are you a lawyer ? 

A. No, sir; not practically. I once read law. 

Q. In reference to what you have already said as to your regarding some proceedings as 
irregular, is it not a familiar fact that the Interior Department or the Secretary of the Inte¬ 
rior, as a matter of law and practice, has the authority and the right to overrule the decision 
of your board ? 

A. Certainly ; and if I had been permitted in the beginning to state what the Secretary 
of the Interior told me, it would have thrown a good deal of light on a good deal of the 
ground which you have gone over. 

By Mr. McNulta : 

Q. What did the Secretary of the Interior say to you on this subject of examining and 
acting on the accounts ? 

A. The Secretary of the Interior, at my request, understood, and I told him distinctly, 
that I should act in accordance with the law as I understood it, and that the discretionary 
power should be all left to him, as the law placed it in his hands. I told him that if an ac¬ 
count was irregular, even though there was no indication of fraud, I should pronounce it ir¬ 
regular, and send it to him to act upon, in order that the exercise of the discretionary power 
might be by the party to whom that power was given by law; and I may add here that the 
Secretary of the Interior requested me to state this if I had an opportunity—to state that I 
had exercised no discretion in dealing with the accounts, but had simply adhered to the law 
as I received it from good authority ; and I have never exercised discretionary power in any 
case, but have left it with the Secretary, where the law places it. 

Q. You understand, then, that the Secretary has merely exercised that discretion which is 
placed in him by law in overruling your judgment in those matters ? 

A. Yes, sir; he had a right to do it, and take the responsibility. 

Q. Do you know of any wrong act or purpose of his in doing so—anything outside of the 
legitimate exercise of that discretionary power ? 

A. I do not, because I have never taken pains to inform myself. 

Q. Then, as far as you know, the Secretary has just done what he had a right by law to 
do ? 

A. I have never had reason to suppose that he has done anything that the law does not 
authorize him to do. Of course he takes the responsibility of his own acts. 

It will be seen by this testimony that the board, fully recognizing the 
legal authority of the Secretary to overrule their decisions, adopted the 
policy to reject an account whenever it was irregular , even though 
there was no indication of fraud, leaving it to the Secretary to approve 
or disapprove, as he was fully empowered to do by law. The disap¬ 
proval of an account by the board, therefore, does not, as Dr. Bishop 
says, indicate that it was fraudulent. 

Many of the rejections of vouchers w r ere based upon information in 
their possession of which the Department had no knowledge. For ex¬ 
ample, Samuel Walker’s report was made December 6, 1873. The 
board were acting upou the statements in said report, while the Depart¬ 
ment had no knowledge of it, not being furnished with a copy of it 
until the 11th of February following. Subsequently, before the Com¬ 
mittee on Indian Affairs of the 43d Congress Messrs. Bishop and Dodge 
of the board admitted that they had been deceived by Walker’s report 
as to the number of Indians, and adopted the facts contained in Bishop 


Hare’s report upon the subject. You are respectfully referred to the 
testimony of Messrs. Bishop and Dodge upon this point in the report of 
the congressional cominitte, a copy of which has been furnished you. 

The reasons assigned by this board for rejecting vouchers are frequently 
quite general. For instance, on page 12, report of 1873, they say, u affi¬ 
davits in our possession go to show,” &c., without furnishing the affi¬ 
davits to the Department; u froin investigation we are satisfied,” &c., 
without giving any detail of the investigation; u the best information 
goes to show,” &c., without stating what that information is. Page 13, 
they say u subsequent examination showed,” &c., without stating what 
the examination had been. These expressions all referred to the inves¬ 
tigation made by the board, the results of which were not communica¬ 
ted to the Department at the time the Secretary was called to act upon 
the vouchers to which the investigation referred. 

Testimony has been taken relative to the substitution of corn for flour, 
and pork for bacon, at some of the Sioux agencies. This subject was 
thoroughly investigated by the standing Committee on Indian Affairs of 
the 43d Congress, and full statements will be found in their report above 
referred to. Corn was substituted for a portion of the flour upon the 
suggestion of Mr. Cree, then secretary of the Board of Indian Commis¬ 
sioners, in a letter written by him from the Indian country, where he was 
traveling in company with Mr. Brunot, the chairman of the commission. 
Mr. Cree stated that so great was the desire of the Indians for corn that 
they would exchange a sack of flour containing a hundred pounds for a 
peck of corn. I then thought, and still think, the substitution was a 
proper one, and have reason to believe that it has been useful and sat¬ 
isfactory to the Indians. The corn cost from 25 to 35 per cent, less per 
pound, and to the extent of the exchange was fully equal in value, 
pound for pound. 

The substitution of pork for bacon was made on my own judgment, as a 
measure of economy. There is much less loss by shrinkage in pork 
than in bacon; it keeps cleaner and reaches the agencies in every res¬ 
pect in better condition for consumption than bacon. The pork costs 
less than the bacon and is worth more. 

In considering the price paid for this corn it must be remembered that 
the transaction was a substitution and not a purchase. It is not im¬ 
probable that by advertising, somewhat lower rates might have been 
obtained; but the flour contractor claimed that his existing contract 
should not be ignored, upon which at the time of the substitution there 
was a margin of profit to the contractor. To this margin of profit 
the contractor was in justice entitled. In making the substitution, there¬ 
fore, the market price of flour was taken into consideration, and the 
exchange agreed upon allowed the same margin on corn that was then 
being realized on flour. 

Still another class of claims rejected by the old board, and which the 
Secretary allowed, were those where beef had been received in excess of 
the one twenty-fourth part of the entire amount which the contract 
called for in any single semi-monthly delivery. When it was shown to the 
satisfaction of the Secretary that the beef had actually been delivered 
and consumed by the Indians, he waived the technical objection of the 
board and approved the vouchers. In all this class of claims there was 
no charge or evidence of fraud. In some instances this excess of the 
one twenty-fourth part was occasioned by the demand of the Indians 
which the agent had not the power to resist. In others it occurred from 
the agent receiving more cattle at a delivery than was required for im¬ 
mediate consumption in order to avail himself of the increase in weight 



by feeding the cattle on prairie-grass. By this course, without addition 
cost for herding, a large number of cows were saved from slaughter 
and given to the Indians for use. It was claimed by me that if tlje 
contractor w T as willing to make the advance delivery and it was for the 
benefit of the Indians and the Government, there could be no objection. 
Certainly there was no fraud. 

I fully believe that a candid examination into this matter will show that 
a very large portion of the vouchers which were suspended, or which, for 
any reason, failed to receive the approval of the Board of Indian Com¬ 
missioners, were of this class, and that the transactions involved in the 
outlay which they represented were entirely honorable and for the ben¬ 
efit of the Indians and the Government, 








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